Hand size and guitar (what's yours?)

Calvin Phillips · Feb 20, 2020

Jak says my hands look huge hit when I put them up against other people they are half the size lol.

I guess I've done a great job stretching from my non pinky playing days. I'm almost able to do a 2/7 stretch on the bottom 2 strings. Before I could barely reach the 6th fret on a string. Now I can play it clean as day. And that was also on the acoustic so i bet I could do others on the electric. It's great for those alternate pick shreds.

Donovan Etue · Feb 20, 2020

Ethan Keeling said:
My old guitar teacher said I have waffle hands....

I noticed your comment almost 2 hours ago and I still have no clue what waffle hands is supposed to mean. Huge palms like a baseball glove? Little indents all throughout your hand to hold peanut butter and maple syrup or strawberry jelly? Perfectly square with no fingers? What does it mean hah.

Ethan Keeling · Feb 20, 2020

Donovan Etue said:
I noticed your comment almost 2 hours ago and I still have no clue what waffle hands is supposed to mean. Huge palms like a baseball glove? Little indents all throughout your hand to hold peanut butter and maple syrup or strawberry jelly? Perfectly square with no fingers? What does it mean hah.

TBH I don't know exactly, i think he means big and long palms and fingers. but i like how your imagine soars from my waffle hands! HAHA

Donovan Etue · Feb 20, 2020

Ethan Keeling said:
TBH I don't know exactly, i think he means big and long palms and fingers. but i like how your imagine soars from my waffle hands! HAHA

I've heard the terms huge hands, giant hands, baseball gloves for hands, Paul Bunyan hands, and others but never waffle hands haha. I don't know why that made me laugh like it did but it did. Never known someone to have Eggo's for hands.

Ben Grosskreuz · Feb 20, 2020

Ethan Keeling said:
My old guitar teacher said I have waffle hands....

What does that even mean? haha

Donovan Etue · Feb 20, 2020

Ben Grosskreuz said:
What does that even mean? haha

Right?!

Alicia Willis · Feb 21, 2020

I have stubby fingers lol.
Pinky to thumb is 8.25 inches
Pinky to index is 6.5 inches.
I play a fender strat

Kai C · Feb 21, 2020

Alicia Willis said:
I have stubby fingers lol.
Pinky to thumb is 8.25 inches
Pinky to index is 6.5 inches.
I play a fender strat

Going off of your videos, you and I match on hand sizes

Alicia Willis · Feb 21, 2020

Kai C said:
Going off of your videos, you and I match on hand sizes

Ben Grosskreuz said:
Yeah.

Hold your arm straight out with your palm down.

Next grab your index finger and pull it toward you slightly.

While holding your index finger, curl the other 3 fingers into a fist and you should feel a solid stretch. I do it like 10 times

Repeat this with the other 3 fingers.

Then turn your hand palm up.

Pull your index slightly toward you and extend your other 3 fingers rather than curling them. (So the opposite of what you just did)

Repeat for the remaining fingers.

Finally put your other hand between your index and middle finger and use your thumb and fingers to push the index and middle finger apart to stretch them out from side to side.

Do this between the middle/ring and the ring/pinkie.

Also stretch the thumb by pulling it back gently.

Make sure you don't have tight shoulder, arm, forearm or chest muscles because they all connect and can effect your fingers. (I had a pinched nerve in my tricep and it was making my index tingle the other day)

Holy hell thats insane !

Haha. I’ve seen your videos too and I think our hands look similar. I catch hell sometimes trying to stretch and make it work. I’m jealous of those with long fingers lol.

Ben Grosskreuz · Feb 21, 2020

Alicia Willis said:
Holy hell thats insane !

Haha. I’ve seen your videos too and I think our hands look similar. I catch hell sometimes trying to stretch and make it work. I’m jealous of those with long fingers lol.

whats insane? I'm confused

Alicia Willis · Feb 21, 2020

Ben Grosskreuz said:
whats insane? I'm confused

My bad. I started to reply to one comment and then had to walk away and Came back then replied to another lol.

Alicia Willis · Feb 21, 2020

Ben Grosskreuz said:
whats insane? I'm confused

What’s insane is your damn fingers though lol. Dude, im jealous lol.

Ben Grosskreuz · Feb 21, 2020

Alicia Willis said:
What’s insane is your damn fingers though lol. Dude, im jealous lol.

haha I'll admit they aren't something that has hurt me with guitar/piano. A lot of the times when I'm playing songs I don't even need to really move my hand like if I'm playing power chords on the 3rd fret and then jumping to the 9th fret. No need to move the hand lol

Kai C · Feb 21, 2020

Ben Grosskreuz said:
haha I'll admit they aren't something that has hurt me with guitar/piano. A lot of the times when I'm playing songs I don't even need to really move my hand like if I'm playing power chords on the 3rd fret and then jumping to the 9th fret. No need to move the hand lol

I'm pretty jealous of that too. I've been working on your stretches and I think it's too soon to see a difference in reach. But I can feel it; my fingers feel more relaxed when hitting the notes. But I have to move my hand to hit certain notes. The etude I've been working on this week, for example, starts on the 10 and goes to the 15 by the time you hit the top strings, and back down to the 10. My hand naturally shifts up the board going up the strings. If I don't move back down the board I get tripped up moving back down the strings.

Ben Grosskreuz · Feb 21, 2020

Kai C said:
I'm pretty jealous of that too. I've been working on your stretches and I think it's too soon to see a difference in reach. But I can feel it; my fingers feel more relaxed when hitting the notes. But I have to move my hand to hit certain notes. The etude I've been working on this week, for example, starts on the 10 and goes to the 15 by the time you hit the top strings, and back down to the 10. My hand naturally shifts up the board going up the strings. If I don't move back down the board I get tripped up moving back down the strings.

What etude might that be sir?
I recommend pentatonic IV and VII to help practice playing larger stretches

TMoney · Dec 2, 2023

Ben Grosskreuz said:
Yeah.

Hold your arm straight out with your palm down.

Next grab your index finger and pull it toward you slightly.

While holding your index finger, curl the other 3 fingers into a fist and you should feel a solid stretch. I do it like 10 times

Repeat this with the other 3 fingers.

Then turn your hand palm up.

Pull your index slightly toward you and extend your other 3 fingers rather than curling them. (So the opposite of what you just did)

Repeat for the remaining fingers.

Finally put your other hand between your index and middle finger and use your thumb and fingers to push the index and middle finger apart to stretch them out from side to side.

Do this between the middle/ring and the ring/pinkie.

Also stretch the thumb by pulling it back gently.

Make sure you don't have tight shoulder, arm, forearm or chest muscles because they all connect and can effect your fingers. (I had a pinched nerve in my tricep and it was making my index tingle the other day)

Dude, you rock! Prior to this I got a ruler and measured the length of my pinky to thumb, which was 8 5/8 inches (21.3 cm) . After the stretch, my reach went to 9 inches (23 cm). Plus I went from only being able to stretch 5 frets out to 6. Absolutely insane! Crazy how good my hands feel on the fretboard with a mere 10 mins of finger stretching.

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